


Ice Packs

by Aaron_The_8th_Demon



Series: Holding [24]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-02 11:53:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19198252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaron_The_8th_Demon/pseuds/Aaron_The_8th_Demon
Summary: The aftermath of the game 7 loss.





	Ice Packs

**Author's Note:**

> I whipped this out at 1:30 in the morning after the loss. Any errors can be blamed on that.

It ends up being Brad who drives home when they’re done gathering up their things and consoling their devastated team mates. He’s confused for a second when his husband gets into the passenger side of the car, but it makes sense as they’re pulling out onto the road and Patrice just  _ breaks. _

Hands in his hair, full body heaving sobs, everything. Because it’s important, somehow. Even while Brad sat on the bench crying like most of the other Bruins, it’s important that Patrice mostly held himself together in front of everyone. To show their younger guys, the ones looking up to the veterans, that no matter how much it sucks it’s not actually the end of the world. There will be other years. There will be other Cups. It’s bad and it hurts and it should’ve been different, but the sun will still shine tomorrow and they still got further than the rest of the teams in the league did. They still dragged it out for the whole series. It wasn’t a shutout.

But right now, nobody else can see them, so Patrice can leave that shit behind and not have to be strong for anyone. Brad’s already cried himself out in the locker room, so now it’s his other half’s turn. Besides even the emotional devastation, Brad knows he’s in what should be a crippling amount of physical pain as well, a leg injury that may need a minor procedure, some strained joints that couldn’t get rested, that part of his collarbone that didn’t quite heal right and has been flaring up this whole time.

They leave their stuff in the car - it can be taken care of in the morning - and Brad doesn’t say a thing for once, just leads Patrice over to the couch and strips him to his undershirt and boxers. Then the ice packs get piled on  _ en masse, _ each wrapped in a dish towel so that they won’t hurt any exposed skin, and Patrice is still crying when Brad leaves for a second to throw on some sweatpants. He’s sore, too, but not really injured, so anything he needs can wait. He brings over probably too much Advil and a glass of water, holding the ice in place while Patrice swallows everything down.

“I should’ve been better,” Patrice whimpers as he lays back down again. “I should’ve been better…”

“It’s not all on you,” Brad argues gently. “I’m the one who fucked up that line change. I was always in the wrong spot the whole time I was out there. That’s not on you, Pat.”

“But I should’ve been better,” he repeats, shuffling a little under all the ice and sniffing in hard. “I got nothing done, and… fuck, Brad, I let this happen…”

“No you didn’t,” Brad insists, smoothing down his hair with a palm. “Everyone got frustrated, we were all so tired, just… there was a lot of shit happening and most of us just couldn’t make it click. It’s only your fault if you went into that game wanting to lose, babe. And I know you didn’t. I know you wanted to win just like the rest of us did.”

“I’m just sick of not being good enough,” Patrice whines around hiccups, finally quieting some. “We couldn’t do it in 2013, and we couldn’t even get that far in all the seasons between that one and this one, and… we couldn’t do it this year, either. And why couldn’t we do it this year? Because of me. I’m such an injury-magnet, and then when I can’t play well the younger guys get demoralized and then they can’t play as well. It’s a domino effect, starting with me.”

“We’re going to go out and get smashed tomorrow,” Brad decides, mostly because he has no idea what he can say to counter that terrible idea. “And then the day after that you’re going to the doctor to get all your whatevers fixed up, okay?” It comes to him, then. “And… you’re all fucked up right now, and you played through this shit like you always do. Probably still not the best decision for you on your own, but… if you did what you’re supposed to and sat games out for your injuries, it would’ve been a lot different. If you weren’t out there with us we never would’ve got as far as we did in the first place.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Patrice mumbles in a tone suggesting he’s not really agreeing at all and just wants Brad to shut up.

So Brad does. He takes some Advil as well and sits until he knows it’s been long enough for the painkillers to kick in for both of them, then sticks all the ice back in the freezer and carries Patrice to bed no matter how much his overworked muscles scream in protest. They don’t even bother brushing their teeth or anything, just curl together under the light summer blanket. It’s still going to hurt tomorrow, in more ways than one, but if nothing else they’ve both had to go through this before and eventually the ache of this loss will fade. There’s going to be training camp and preseason, then a whole other season with undoubtedly some new team mates that they’ll get to know. It’s not likely they’ll make it to the final two years in a row, but they’ll try anyway. Life will keep going the way it always does, and in a few months this won’t hurt as bad.

**Author's Note:**

> No matter how much it sucks for us, it's still a million times worse for them. (Also St Louis are still cheating bastards and I hope all their legs get broken right before the next season starts.)
> 
> I didn't actually watch the end of the game (turned off after goal 3 for the cheating assholes) so I don't know for sure if Marchy was one of the ones crying on the bench, but in his skates I know I would be. I can also only speculate about the nature of whatever injuries Bergy has been hiding until it actually gets announced in the news over the next couple of days.
> 
> ADDENDUM. So... apparently Marchy was the injured one. I just naturally assumed it was Bergy because of the punctured lung thing, but Bergy wasn't listed in the injury report that I saw. Either way it fucking sucks.
> 
> ADDENDUM. Wait, never mind, Bergy was hurt, too, just not as bad. So they were both injured.


End file.
